Advanced Meatballs and Weekday Sauce

Prepare Weekday Sauce: In a preheated pot over medium-high heat, coat the bottom of the pan in olive oil and then add in the sliced garlic and a stem of basil.

Cook until the garlic is lightly brown and the basil and garlic have infused the oil, then remove the basil, lower the heat and add in the blend of tomatoes.

Season with salt and simmer on low heat while you make the meatballs.

Make the Meatball Slurry: To one bowl add the breadcrumbs, ricotta, the tomato puree, the grated garlic, the chopped parsley, the grated pecorino Romano and salt to taste.

Mix to combine the mixture into a homogenous paste that has an intense aroma of garlic and pecorino; since there’s no egg you can taste it for seasoning — it should be stronger than you think to season the meat.

Mix the Egg Into the Meats: In a larger bowl, add in the ground chuck, ground pork and ground veal.

Then crack two eggs into the bowl and mix the meat into the egg to make sure every inch of the meat is coated in egg.

Combine the Slurry with the Meat and Form into Meatballs: Add in the slurry and combine until the slurry is completely worked into the meat mixture so that flavor is in every inch of the meatball.

Allow the meat to marinate for at least 1 hour and up to 24 for the best results, then roll the meat into meatballs however big or small you like them (slightly larger than a golf ball is recommended).

Cooking The Meatballs: In a nonstick pan over medium-high heat, add enough extra virgin olive oil to cover the pan by about an inch and bring it up to temperature.

Begin to add the meatballs in a circle so you can keep track of which ball to flip first and make sure not to overcrowd them in the pan; once that side is browned, flip the meatballs in order that they were placed and brown the next side.

If there is a large third side of a meatball that isn’t browned, let that have some time in the oil; once they’re all browned, take them out of the pan and drop them into the pot of sauce.

Next, thin the sauce a bit to compensate for the cooking time: fill up one of those can of tomatoes with water and add that into the pot a little at a time to thin it out slightly.

Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat down to low and cook covered for at least 30 minutes but no longer than 1 hour; after 30 minutes to an hour the meatballs should be tender and the sauce should be thickened (if the sauce is runny, cook longer until it clings to bread).

Plate: In a shallow bowl, stack a few meatballs, pour on top some sauce, garnish with some fresh basil and sprinkle with some grated pecorino Romano and a grind of black pepper.